Stop Sherman County from Destroying Azure Standard Organic Farm!

Azure Farms is a working, Certified Organic farm located in Moro, Central Oregon, in Sherman County. It has been Certified Organic for about 18 years. The farm produces almost all the organic wheat, field peas, barley, Einkorn, and beef for Azure Standard.

Sherman County is changing the interpretation of its statutory code from controlling noxious weeds to eradicating noxious weeds. These weeds include Morning Glory, Canada Thistle, and Whitetop, all of which have been on the farm for many years, but that only toxic chemicals will eradicate.

As parents, we buy organic to take care of our families. 1 out of 2 of our children in America currently have a chronic illness: allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease, autism, diabetes & obesity. The cost to our children, families and country, from these toxins in the food supply is incalculable.

Sherman County may be issuing a Court Order on May 22, 2017, to quarantine Azure Farms and possibly to spray the whole farm with poisonous herbicides, contaminating them with Milestone, Escort and Roundup herbicides.

This will destroy all the efforts Azure Farms has made for years to produce the very cleanest and healthiest food humanly possible. About 2,000 organic acres would be impacted; that is about 1.5 times the size of the city center of Philadelphia that is about to be prayed with noxious, toxic, polluting herbicides.

The county would then put a lien on the farm to pay for the expense of the labor and chemicals used. I am against this or so many reasons.

This make no sense what so ever.

These herbicides DO NOT WORK!. While it may work for a while all that will happen will be the development of superweeds, which we already have over 400 different varieties over millions of acres developing. It was these very herbicides, along with the mono-crops that caused this problem in the first place. As Einstein said - “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”

Azure will lose their organic certification. If that were the case I would think that this would be litigious, as you are preventing them making a living. I am a customer because of their organic products. Almost every independently owned health food store in the country orders from them.

The American Academy of Pediatrics stated:“Epidemiologic evidence demonstrates associations between early life exposure to pesticides (which includes herbicides and fungicides) and pediatric cancers, decreased cognitive function, and behavioral problems. ”Scientific study led by Dr. Monika Kruger showed that “Chronically ill humans had significantly higher glyphosate residues in their urine than a healthy population.”Glyphosate based herbicides have been scientifically proven to cause liver disease, be a neurotoxin, cause endocrine disruption, sex hormone changes, and to be a probable carcinogen.

The collateral damage from spraying these toxins affects more than the weeds. It gets into the groundwater, destroys the healthy soil and creates a host of illnesses. The rates of disease have increase steadily in the same rate as the use of these pesticides, as shown by the charts below. You can't deny the correlations.

For every teaspoon of soil, there are over 6 billion microorganisms, that if destroyed, as they will be when spraying with these herbicides, will:

Please withdraw your petition to destroy this farm. You will be doing it for nothing, as the weeds will come back, stronger than ever. We need to use organic, sustainable methods to control our environment, not destroy it. Please do the right thing.

If you are concerned about where your food comes from, enjoy Organic and non-GMO food grown in the United States, and support organic farmers, contact Sherman County Court before May 22, 2017 (and preferably before May 17 when the next court discussion will be held).

Raise your voice and speak up for you and your families and communities.

This proposed action is completely unreasonable and would destroy an organic farm and pollute a massive area. If enough voices that benefit from organic produce speak up, the county will understand that there are people that care about their food NOT containing toxic chemicals. And if the supporters of healthy food can have a louder voice than the supporters of toxic chemicals, every politician will listen. PLEASE take action today and share this message. Overwhelm the Sherman County representatives with your voice.